Students make life-changing commitment
Juniors join the Marine Corps
June 8, 2016
Junior Haley Kirchner’s legs shake while reciting the oath for the U.S. Marine Corps at the swearing-in ceremony May 17.
Kirchner said joining the Marines will fulfill her dream of being in law enforcement.
“I really wanted to challenge myself,” Kirchner said. “I’ve always wanted to be in law enforcement, so when this opportunity came along it just seemed like a good fit.”
Junior Eli Haddorff, who was also sworn into the Marines May 17, said he has wanted to join since he was younger.
“I have wanted to join since I was in the sixth grade,” Haddorff said. “I could only join at the end of my junior year, which is now.”
Staff Sergeant Michael Lesh from the Marines said his first impression of Haddorff and Kirchner was that they were great individuals he was excited to work with.
“I met Eli first when he requested some information on the Marine Corps. When we met up, he was a young, intelligent and just a great individual,” Lesh said. “Then Eli introduced me to Haley, who is a motivated and driven individual. I’m proud to know them.”
Haddorff said in general, the Marines are an expeditionary force that do it all.
“They can be deployed quickly and quietly to anywhere in the world at any time,” Haddorff said. “They do everything from natural disasters, humanitarian issues and global conflict.”
Kirchner said over the summer months, her and Eli will be in a program preparing them for boot camp after they graduate.
“Me and Eli are both in a program called the Delayed Entry Program and the whole point of it is to prepare us both mentally and physically to leave for basic training in a year,” Kirchner said. “Being the Marines, we can’t leave until after we graduate high school, so it gives us a little more time to breathe and get ready.”
Lesh said some requirements they have for their poolies, a term for students before they become recruits, is to just be law abiding citizens.
“We look for the best and brightest, the ones that stay out of trouble and are outstanding citizens,” Lesh said. “Our core values are honor, courage and commitment so we try to work that into and having the poolies apply those three core values into the majority of the decisions they make.”
To be physically ready for the Marines, Haddorff said he has physical training every week with the other poolies.
“We do a lot of physical training a couple times a week,” Haddorff said. “But other than that, the usual — don’t eat fast food and drink soda all the time.”
Kirchner said her friends and her family members had different reactions to her news of joining the Marines.
“All of my friends were really supportive, and with Eli being one of my closest friends, it was really cool that we got to do this together,” Kirchner said. “My parents, on the other hand, were a little skeptical. My mom is slowly getting used to it and with my dad being in the army it was a little more difficult for him to swallow.”
Lesh said compared to other branches, the Marines have a bond that cannot be broken.
“We are a very tight knit organization, the fact that we have two basic trainings on the East Coast and the West Coast, it is the same exact experience,” Lesh said. “We have all been through the same experience of becoming a Marine.”
Haddorff and Kirchner will officially join the Marines once they graduate high school.
